New claims for unemployment benefits totaled 793,000 during the week of 8 February, only slightly less than the previous week’s 812,000.
The new figure topped the estimate of 760,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
New weekly claims for jobless benefits have topped 700,000 every week for 11 months.
Continuing claims dropped by 145,000 to 4.54 million.
The number of people receiving unemployment payments of any kind rose by more than 10 percent to 20.44 million due to a spurt of claims in two programs supporting workers unqualified to receive employer-funded benefits and those whose benefits have otherwise expired.
California alone registered more than a million new filings for emergency unemployment payments.
Although the economy has restored about 12.5 million jobs since the economy shut down last March, roughly ten million people are still without work.
TREND FORECAST: Just as we had forecast, as the winter set in, unemployment numbers would rise. And, as the weather warms up and governments un-lock economies, unemployment numbers will fall. However, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office, the jobs lost will not be recovered until sometime in 2024. Therefore, while old jobs will come back, new ones won’t be created, which will in turn suppress economic growth.
